Autumn Dynasty Review

Good pure RTS games arenâ€™t exactly easy to find on Android. Sure, there are a few good ones, but few can match the strategic depth to be found in Autumn Dynasty.

Autumn Dynasty tells the story of a Royal Scholar, an important, intelligent man sent on a routine journey by the ruling government. He runs into a spot of trouble and, after proving himself against his enemies, youâ€™ll follow his story as he grows into a leader and unearths a sinister plot. AD tells a great story and the very well done character art and interesting dialogue really drive the gameâ€™s story onwards and gives a lot of incentive to complete the next mission.

Not that much incentive is needed. AD features some of the best RTS gameplay youâ€™ll find on Android.

There are a good variety of units to construct like Swordsmen, Archers and Pikemen and constructing a base and training your troops is dead easy. In true RTS style each unit type in AD has a special ability. These range from setting the nearby area on fire to assuming a hedgehog like formation to ward off arrow fire.

Itâ€™s the many different ways these units and abilities square off against each other that gives AD its engrossing gameplay.

For example, pikemen are slaughtered by archers and defeat cavalry. In their hedgehog formation however they can largely ignore archers that would otherwise kill them, although they are much worse in melee with it active. Cavalry can summon a field of fire to kill off pikemen and archers can deploy and fire at a much longer distance than they could otherwise, unless they are flanked while deployed, in which case they are helpless. The way ADâ€™s gameplay can change constantly because of the use (or not) of abilities, as well as just general force composition and positioning constantly change up its already interesting gameplay, ensuring hours will be spent sending cavalry smashing into archers and setting forests on fire to flush out hiding enemies.

The single player missions are very well designed too. Every mission is a sort of puzzle and requires clever tactics and a bit of thinking to complete. There is plenty of room for strategizing however and more than one way to win missions. Rushing in blindly however will just lead to failure.

Autumn Dynasty looks amazing. A great Chinese painted style lends the game a very unique, beautiful look. The gameâ€™s environments look just like an old paper map youâ€™d find on a commanders desk and your soldiers are similarly given a hand drawn look and animate well.

Soundwise AD doesnâ€™t quite measure up to the standard set by its graphics. While there is some enjoyable period music, there just isnâ€™t enough of it. Battles also sound a little dull as some very basic metal on metal sounds are all there is to hear in melee. The *thwip* of archers firing and the sound of soldiers moving gets the job done, but with a game that looks as stunning as Autumn Dynasty youâ€™d expect a bit more from the gameâ€™s sound.

Autumn Dynasty is a must play for any serious mobile gamer. If you like a more thoughtful game than the next Angry Birds clone, AD will be right up your alley.

Autumn Dynasty Review Rundown

9.5

Graphics/ Sound - Nearly perfect.

8.0

Controls - Intuitive and easy.

10.0

Gameplay - One of the Deepest games on Android.

10.0

Replay Value - A long, detailed campaign and a story that pulls you in.